We wandered around Osaka's "night life" area Dotonburi for a bit before going for supper. Our original plan was to head to a sushi restaurant in the shape of a boat in which some patrons would be trying to catch their own fish! (Sounds exciting right?). But when we arrived they were all booked up, and from their reaction - it seemed like if I'd asked when their next opening had been, they might give me a month rather than a day.
So - we went with our plan B, which was pretty exciting nonetheless (and probably more our style/more of an authentic experience). Lonely Planet had recommended this hole-in-the-wall restaurant called Robatayaki Isaribi (so hole-in-the-wall, in fact, that the Lonely Planet's description included the fact that "It's in the basement of a liquor store").
When we arrived, the waitress sat us down at a large grill with 10-15 other patrons, and handed us two menus. We sat around for a few minutes, trying to decide how we would order, given that the menus were again entirely in Japanese with no pictures. Eventually the waitress came by again to take our drink order, and then brought us an English menu at the same time. We still weren't entirely sure what we were ordering, but the plates were all around $3/each, so we figured we'd start with a couple each and see how it went. We ordered "fried yam" thinking that it would be like sweet potato fries (it was not), chicken meatballs, and a "flat fish". I'm not sure what we were expecting with the flat fish - but shortly after placing our order, we saw the chef put a large, flat fish on the grill.
From this point forward, I felt my anxiety levels rising. I'd been trying so hard to do everything the right way, and to not offend anyone, but how on earth was I going to eat this giant fish with chopsticks? When it arrived, slowly but surely we made our way through all of the meat on the fish, and then I remembered what Betty (Garrett's mom) had once said about their BBQing experiences in Hawaii. They were leaving the skin behind after BBQing some salmon and a native Hawaiian resident (perhaps of Japanese descent) asked if they could have the skin as this was considered to be a great delicacy! I then took it upon myself to eat all of the skin too (with chopsticks). Later that evening, another fellow at the same table ordered the same fish. He did not eat the skin of the fish. Oops! :P
We put in a second order (including a rice patty with cheese!). All of the food we ordered was very good (and all very different from what we were used to).
We were just finishing up with our meal and thinking about leaving when the waitress then handed us bingo cards and said something in Japanese with a big smile! So we ordered another beer instead. :P
Although we had many Japanese helpers translating numbers for us, and I gathered a lot of attention when the first four numbers called were four in the same row on my card, I'll admit I was actually relieved that I didn't win at Bingo that night. :P
So - we went with our plan B, which was pretty exciting nonetheless (and probably more our style/more of an authentic experience). Lonely Planet had recommended this hole-in-the-wall restaurant called Robatayaki Isaribi (so hole-in-the-wall, in fact, that the Lonely Planet's description included the fact that "It's in the basement of a liquor store").
We didn't dare take any pictures in the restaurant, as we were the only "tourists" there, and we were SO badly trying to pretend that we weren't tourists. I found a picture online, however that someone posted on their blog, and I stole it (photo credit to Zafiris
Gourgouliatos)! This is what the restaurant looks like:
When we arrived, the waitress sat us down at a large grill with 10-15 other patrons, and handed us two menus. We sat around for a few minutes, trying to decide how we would order, given that the menus were again entirely in Japanese with no pictures. Eventually the waitress came by again to take our drink order, and then brought us an English menu at the same time. We still weren't entirely sure what we were ordering, but the plates were all around $3/each, so we figured we'd start with a couple each and see how it went. We ordered "fried yam" thinking that it would be like sweet potato fries (it was not), chicken meatballs, and a "flat fish". I'm not sure what we were expecting with the flat fish - but shortly after placing our order, we saw the chef put a large, flat fish on the grill.
From this point forward, I felt my anxiety levels rising. I'd been trying so hard to do everything the right way, and to not offend anyone, but how on earth was I going to eat this giant fish with chopsticks? When it arrived, slowly but surely we made our way through all of the meat on the fish, and then I remembered what Betty (Garrett's mom) had once said about their BBQing experiences in Hawaii. They were leaving the skin behind after BBQing some salmon and a native Hawaiian resident (perhaps of Japanese descent) asked if they could have the skin as this was considered to be a great delicacy! I then took it upon myself to eat all of the skin too (with chopsticks). Later that evening, another fellow at the same table ordered the same fish. He did not eat the skin of the fish. Oops! :P
We put in a second order (including a rice patty with cheese!). All of the food we ordered was very good (and all very different from what we were used to).
We were just finishing up with our meal and thinking about leaving when the waitress then handed us bingo cards and said something in Japanese with a big smile! So we ordered another beer instead. :P
Although we had many Japanese helpers translating numbers for us, and I gathered a lot of attention when the first four numbers called were four in the same row on my card, I'll admit I was actually relieved that I didn't win at Bingo that night. :P
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